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Our second study examines the month of November, 2010 and sunshine data from three different weather stations, one located in Sequim, one in Port Angeles, and one in Seattle. As is common in the Pacific Northwest, November was wet, cold, and stormy. Overall sunny days in Sequim were down from 11 in October to 7 in November, and total recorded sunlight in Sequim was only 50% of the month of October. Seattle fared even worse, recording only 41% of the sunlight recorded in October. The complete October report is also available.

Study Highlights:

• Sequim was 1.27 times as bright as Seattle; Port Angeles was 1.08 times as bright as Seattle.

• Sequim recorded an average of 1.02 hours of bright sun per day, compared to only .52 hours/day in Seattle, and .68/day in Port Angeles.

• Sequim recorded 7 mostly sunny days, compared to 5 in Port Angeles, and only 3 in Seattle.

Detailed Study Findings

The Sequim site recorded 7 mostly sunny days, to Seattle's 3 mostly sunny days. Seattle had 6 dreary days, compared to only 2 in Sequim, and 4 in Port Angeles.

On average for the month, the Sequim site had 1.02 hours of clear sunny skies per day, where as Seattle had .52 hours. The Port Angeles site recorded .68 hours of clear sunny skies per day on average. In terms of pure solar radiation, the Sequim site for the month recorded 1.27 times as much overall solar radiation as Seattle, and 1.17 times as much as the Port Angeles site.

Finally, let’s look at two stormy periods, a "Pineapple Express" event on November 1st, and an "Arctic Express" which blew in on the 21st and lasted till roughly the 27th.

During the Pineapple Express, Sequim recorded 2.13 times the solar radiation of Seattle, showing that the rain shadow provided significant relief from this soggy storm. However, the following Pineapple Express, which hit in December soaked Sequim pretty well.  See additional blog post on this event.

During the "Arctic Express" period of Thanksgiving week,  which was a near blizzard along the NE Olympic Peninsula, Sequim recorded 1.37 times the solar radiation of Seattle, while Port Angeles recorded 1.17 times Seattle. The radiation charts are below.

Looking at just Sequim vs. Seattle, the brighter days are clear, especially after the "main event" on Monday and Tuesday.

Comparing just Sequim to Port Angeles, it is clear that  the sunshine in the two locations is very similar.

• In a dark and stormy "winter" month, rain shadow areas recorded significantly more light than the urban Seattle area.

• Port Angeles received some benefit from the rain shadow, but not to the degree of Sequim.

• If you are feeling you are living in a dreary neighborhood in the eastern Puget Sound or Cascade foothills, take a road trip to the Olympic Rain Shadow, and you will likely see *a lot* more light during the darker months and stormy periods.
  

Study Methodology

This study was conducted by examining incident solar radiation. Solar radiation is measured in watts per square meter. This measurement is directly related to illuminance, a measure of how much light falls on a given area.

We used data from three different weather stations.

The first station, the Sequim station, is located on the roof of a single story home on Jamestown Beach Rd, in Sequim, directly on the shores of the Strait of Juan de Fuca. This location may be very close to the epicenter of the Olympic Rain Shadow. As with many locations on the Dungeness plain in Sequim, this one is not shaded by tall trees, nor does it have any hills affecting its exposure. When the sun rises in the morning, it clears the horizon almost immediately as the areas to the south and east are open water. When the sun sets in the evening, it sets to the west, over the Dungeness plain, so stays above the horizon for quite some time. The Sequim location uses a Davis Instruments Vantage Pro 2 with optional solar sensor. This station measures solar radiation every 2 minutes and records the average over 10 minutes.

The second station is in downtown Port Angeles, at Lincoln High School. The school's Davis Instruments Vantage Pro2 Plus sensors are mounted on the rooftop of the high school,  about a mile southwest of ferry dock to Victoria B.C. at an elevation of about 200 feet. There is excellent exposure clockwise from northeast to southwest and good exposure for the other directions. The sensors record solar radiation every five minutes. Special thanks to Peter Alexander, his math classes, and Lincoln High School for the data and support..

The third station is atop the Atmospheric Sciences Department building of the University of Washington, in the University District of Seattle. This seven story building is not in the classical Olympic Rain Shadow area, but is still slightly shadowed by the Olympics. Given that the sensor is located atop a tall building, this location has ideal exposure and receives maximum solar radiation. This station records solar radiation every minute. Data was retrieved by downloading public information from the University of Washington’s Department of Atmospheric Sciences website.

For purposes of this study, skies were defined as follows:

“Clear Sunny” sensors record at least 60% of the maximum radiation possible for that day of that year
“Bright” sensors record between 20% and 60% of the maximum radiation for that day of that year
“Gray” sensors record between 50 w/m^2 and 20% of the maximum radiation for that day of that year
“Dark Gray” sensors record between 1 and 49 w/m^2

Days were categorized as follows:

"Mostly Sunny Day" over ½ the day had at least “bright” skies, with at least 22% of daylight hours “clear sunny”.
"Partly Sunny Day" over ½ the day had at least “bright” skies, but less than 22% of daylight hours “clear sunny”.
"Overcast Day" over ½ the day had gray or dark gray skies, but at least 22% of daylight hours “gray”.
"Dreary Day" daylight hours predominately dark gray, with less then 22% of daylight hours “gray”.

Data was aggregated, analyzed, and graphed using Microsoft Excel.